Boor: Increased Ag Research Funding Needed To Provide A Bright Future For Our Next Generation

04/19/18

Dean Kathryn J. Boor

In a post for FedByScience, Kathryn J. Boor, Ph.D., the Ronald P. Lynch Dean, College of Agriculture and Life Sciences, cites CALS’ controlled environment agriculture (CEA), apple and honeybee research as examples of how publicly funded food and agriculture research that is so critical to our future.

Agriculture faces grand challenges on a global scale, with a projected two billion more mouths to feed by mid-century. Some estimate that we will need to double our current food production capacity in the next 30 years to ensure that the global population has enough healthy and safe food to eat.

Yet, since the early 2000s, federal spending on U.S. agriculture and related research has declined. The United States has slipped from our position as the world leader in food and agricultural research. China has outpaced us in public support for agriculture research and development since 2009, and Brazil and Argentina now outspend us on agriculture R&D entirely.